Human Economics

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Economics for Humans

Author : Julie A. Nelson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022646394X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (264 download)

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Book Synopsis Economics for Humans by : Julie A. Nelson

Download or read book Economics for Humans written by Julie A. Nelson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At its core, an economy is about providing goods and services for human well-being. But many economists and critics preach that an economy is something far different: a cold and heartless system that operates outside of human control. In this impassioned and perceptive work, Julie A. Nelson asks a compelling question: given that our economic world is something that we as humans create, aren’t ethics and human relationships—dimensions of a full and rich life—intrinsically part of the picture? Economics for Humans argues against the well-ingrained notion that economics is immune to moral values and distant from human relationships. Here, Nelson locates the impediment to a more considerate economic world in an assumption that is shared by both neoliberals and the political left. Despite their seemingly insurmountable differences, both make use of the metaphor, first proposed by Adam Smith, that the economy is a machine. This pervasive idea, Nelson argues, has blinded us to the qualities that make us work and care for one another—qualities that also make businesses thrive and markets grow. We can wed our interest in money with our justifiable concerns about ethics and social well-being. And we can do so if we recognize that an economy is not a machine, but a living thing in need of attention and careful tending. This second edition has been updated and refined throughout, with expanded discussions of many topics and a new chapter that investigates the apparent conflict between economic well-being and ecological sustainability. Further developing the main points of the first edition, Economics for Humans will continue to both invigorate and inspire readers to reshape the way they view the economy, its possibilities, and their place within it.

The Economics of Human Rights

Author : Elizabeth M. Wheaton
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351012983
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Economics of Human Rights by : Elizabeth M. Wheaton

Download or read book The Economics of Human Rights written by Elizabeth M. Wheaton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-21 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economics plays a key role in human rights issues as decision-makers weigh the incentives associated with choosing how to use scarce resources in the context of committing or escaping human rights violence. This textbook provides an introduction to the microeconomic analysis of human rights utilizing economics as a lens through which to examine social topics including capital punishment, violence against women, asylum seeking, terrorism, child abuse, genocide, and hate. Whether analyzing the decisions made in capital punishment cases, the causes and consequences of genocide, or the impact of terrorist acts on domestic and international decision-making, the science of economics provides tools and a systematic method of analysis and policy recommendation. This key text presents a method for integrating the social sciences of economics and human rights to create new opportunities for the investigation of social issues. Within each chapter, readers gain a fundamental understanding of a specific human rights issue, the decision-makers and the decision-making process involved, and the benefits and costs leading to the decisions. Experts on each issue, drawn from a variety of fields, contribute to each chapter and present first-hand accounts and different perspectives on each issue. The detailed analyses and accounts provided also explore the potential incentives involved in the prevention and termination of human rights violations. Aiming to further economic inquiry and enhance interdisciplinary research, this textbook serves as a multi-purpose guide for a range of readers. Students, researchers, and educators, as well as those working in organizations supporting victims of human rights violations and policy-makers facing human rights challenges, will find this book informative and engaging.

People Economics

Author : Laura Queen
Publisher : Middle Market Press
ISBN 13 : 9781667801179
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis People Economics by : Laura Queen

Download or read book People Economics written by Laura Queen and published by Middle Market Press. This book was released on 2021-10-13 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book shatters the barriers between traditional Finance and Human Resources by demonstrating that People Economics is a win-win for both companies and their employees. There have been many attempts to bring clarity to the term 'human capital', People Economics breaks through with common language and a relevant framework. The stories, real-life examples and calculable metrics provide tangible ways to bring human capital measurement to life. ESG and sustainability reporting, corporate transparency and disclosure of human capital measures are rapidly gaining prominence for investors, analysts, regulators and consumers. The United States lags other nations in this field; People Economics offers a path to rapidly accelerate understanding of this complex and challenging arena. It is an essential reference for investors, executives, human resources and finance professionals, and business educators.

The Insatiability of Human Wants

Author : Regenia Gagnier
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226278544
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (785 download)

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Book Synopsis The Insatiability of Human Wants by : Regenia Gagnier

Download or read book The Insatiability of Human Wants written by Regenia Gagnier and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000-12 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the relationship between our conception of humans as producers or creators; as consumers of taste and pleasure; and as creators of value? Combining cultural history, economics, and literary criticism, Regenia Gagnier's new work traces the parallel development of economic and aesthetic theory, offering a shrewd reading of humans as workers and wanters, born of labor and desire. The Insatiability of Human Wants begins during a key transitional moment in aesthetic and economic theory, 1871, when both disciplines underwent a turn from production to consumption models. In economics, an emphasis on the theory of value and the social relations between land, labor, and capital gave way to more individualistic models of consumerism. Similarly, in aesthetics, theories of artistic production or creativity soon bowed to models of taste, pleasure, and reception. Using these developments as a point of departure, Gagnier deftly traces the shift in Western thought from models of production to consumption. From its exploration of early market logic and Kantian thought to its look at the aestheticization of homelessness and our own market boom, The Insatiability of Human Wants invites us to contemplate alternative interpretations of economics, aesthetics, and history itself.

The Economic Approach to Human Behavior

Author : Gary S. Becker
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022621706X
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis The Economic Approach to Human Behavior by : Gary S. Becker

Download or read book The Economic Approach to Human Behavior written by Gary S. Becker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-02-06 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since his pioneering application of economic analysis to racial discrimination, Gary S. Becker has shown that an economic approach can provide a unified framework for understanding all human behavior. In a highly readable selection of essays Becker applies this approach to various aspects of human activity, including social interactions; crime and punishment; marriage, fertility, and the family; and "irrational" behavior. "Becker's highly regarded work in economics is most notable in the imaginative application of 'the economic approach' to a surprising breadth of human activity. Becker's essays over the years have inevitably inspired a surge of research activity in testimony to the richness of his insights into human activities lying 'outside' the traditionally conceived economic markets. Perhaps no economist in our time has contributed more to expanding the area of interest to economists than Becker, and a number of these thought-provoking essays are collected in this book."—Choice Gary Becker was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1992.

Human Resource Economics and Public Policy

Author : Charles J. Whalen
Publisher : W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Human Resource Economics and Public Policy by : Charles J. Whalen

Download or read book Human Resource Economics and Public Policy written by Charles J. Whalen and published by W.E. Upjohn Institute. This book was released on 2010 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book honors Vernon Briggs's professional contributions. This book contains important discussions on issues of human resource economics, which is now often described as workforce development. This book offers much research information and policy analysis that can be used to develop what is needed for an active set of national human resource policies.

Animal Spirits

Author : George A. Akerlof
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400834724
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Animal Spirits by : George A. Akerlof

Download or read book Animal Spirits written by George A. Akerlof and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From acclaimed economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, the case for why government is needed to restore confidence in the economy The global financial crisis has made it painfully clear that powerful psychological forces are imperiling the wealth of nations today. From blind faith in ever-rising housing prices to plummeting confidence in capital markets, "animal spirits" are driving financial events worldwide. In this book, acclaimed economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller challenge the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and put forward a bold new vision that will transform economics and restore prosperity. Akerlof and Shiller reassert the necessity of an active government role in economic policymaking by recovering the idea of animal spirits, a term John Maynard Keynes used to describe the gloom and despondence that led to the Great Depression and the changing psychology that accompanied recovery. Like Keynes, Akerlof and Shiller know that managing these animal spirits requires the steady hand of government—simply allowing markets to work won't do it. In rebuilding the case for a more robust, behaviorally informed Keynesianism, they detail the most pervasive effects of animal spirits in contemporary economic life—such as confidence, fear, bad faith, corruption, a concern for fairness, and the stories we tell ourselves about our economic fortunes—and show how Reaganomics, Thatcherism, and the rational expectations revolution failed to account for them. Animal Spirits offers a road map for reversing the financial misfortunes besetting us today. Read it and learn how leaders can channel animal spirits—the powerful forces of human psychology that are afoot in the world economy today. In a new preface, they describe why our economic troubles may linger for some time—unless we are prepared to take further, decisive action.

Happiness and Economics

Author : Bruno S. Frey
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400829267
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Happiness and Economics by : Bruno S. Frey

Download or read book Happiness and Economics written by Bruno S. Frey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Curiously, economists, whose discipline has much to do with human well-being, have shied away from factoring the study of happiness into their work. Happiness, they might say, is an ''unscientific'' concept. This is the first book to establish empirically the link between happiness and economics--and between happiness and democracy. Two respected economists, Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer, integrate insights and findings from psychology, where attempts to measure quality of life are well-documented, as well as from sociology and political science. They demonstrate how micro- and macro-economic conditions in the form of income, unemployment, and inflation affect happiness. The research is centered on Switzerland, whose varying degrees of direct democracy from one canton to another, all within a single economy, allow for political effects to be isolated from economic effects. Not surprisingly, the authors confirm that unemployment and inflation nurture unhappiness. Their most striking revelation, however, is that the more developed the democratic institutions and the degree of local autonomy, the more satisfied people are with their lives. While such factors as rising income increase personal happiness only minimally, institutions that facilitate more individual involvement in politics (such as referendums) have a substantial effect. For countries such as the United States, where disillusionment with politics seems to be on the rise, such findings are especially significant. By applying econometrics to a real-world issue of general concern and yielding surprising results, Happiness and Economics promises to spark healthy debate over a wide range of the social sciences.

The Economics of Human Betterment

Author : Kenneth E. Boulding
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 9780791497234
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (972 download)

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Book Synopsis The Economics of Human Betterment by : Kenneth E. Boulding

Download or read book The Economics of Human Betterment written by Kenneth E. Boulding and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1985-06-30 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Economics of Human Betterment is a comparative look at economic change and social progress. It is about betterment—a change or process—and about institutions and countries as they evolve. It is about human betterment—and therefore concerned with perceived welfare and the identification of basic human needs. And it is about economics, but about means as means, not means as ends. This book asks in what way productive activities (whether free market or planned, whether in developed or in developing countries) influence and reflect basic human values. The essays contained herein represent some of the best up-to-date accounts available on such topics as the welfare state in Holland or the relationship between growth and betterment in Singapore. Other essays take in the United Kingdom, Japan, India, and the planned economy of the Soviet Union. The contributors are all well-known experts in their own field. And their essays reveal a common conviction that economics is about people first, and about things only in so far as they contribute to human betterment.

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics

Author : Richard H. Thaler
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393246779
Total Pages : 502 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (932 download)

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Book Synopsis Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by : Richard H. Thaler

Download or read book Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics written by Richard H. Thaler and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Get ready to change the way you think about economics. Nobel laureate Richard H. Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans—predictable, error-prone individuals. Misbehaving is his arresting, frequently hilarious account of the struggle to bring an academic discipline back down to earth—and change the way we think about economics, ourselves, and our world. Traditional economics assumes rational actors. Early in his research, Thaler realized these Spock-like automatons were nothing like real people. Whether buying a clock radio, selling basketball tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. More importantly, our misbehavior has serious consequences. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments. Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behavior, Thaler enlightens readers about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world. He reveals how behavioral economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything from household finance to assigning faculty offices in a new building, to TV game shows, the NFL draft, and businesses like Uber. Laced with antic stories of Thaler’s spirited battles with the bastions of traditional economic thinking, Misbehaving is a singular look into profound human foibles. When economics meets psychology, the implications for individuals, managers, and policy makers are both profound and entertaining. Shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

Behavioural Economics

Author : David Orrell
Publisher : Icon Books
ISBN 13 : 1785786458
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (857 download)

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Book Synopsis Behavioural Economics by : David Orrell

Download or read book Behavioural Economics written by David Orrell and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversial science that claims to have revolutionised economics. For centuries, economics was dominated by the idea that we are rational individuals who optimise our own 'utility'. Then, in the 1970s, psychologists demonstrated that the reality is a lot messier. We don't really know what our utility is, and we care about people other than ourselves. We are susceptible to external nudges. And far from being perfectly rational we are prone to 'cognitive biases' with complex effects on decision-making, such as forgetting to prepare for retirement. David Orrell explores the findings from psychology and neuroscience that are shaking up economics - and that are being exploited by policy-makers and marketers alike, to shape everything from how we shop for food, to how we tackle societal happiness or climate change. Finally, he asks: is behavioural economics a scientific revolution, or just a scientific form of marketing?

The New Economics of Human Behaviour

Author : Mariano Tommasi
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521479493
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (794 download)

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Book Synopsis The New Economics of Human Behaviour by : Mariano Tommasi

Download or read book The New Economics of Human Behaviour written by Mariano Tommasi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-08-24 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 1995 volume demonstrates the application of Beckerian theory upon a wide range of social and political activity.

Anthill Economics

Author : Nathanial Gronewold
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1633886530
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (338 download)

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Book Synopsis Anthill Economics by : Nathanial Gronewold

Download or read book Anthill Economics written by Nathanial Gronewold and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-03-05 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does modern economic theory violate the basic laws of nature and physics? That is the question that award-winning environmental and energy writer Nathanial Gronewold sets out to answer in Anthill Economics. Drawing from the nascent field of biophysical economics, Anthill Economics puts forth a radical new way of thinking: as 21st-century citizens, the global economy truly is our human ecosystem. It is where raw materials are sourced, goods are supplied, energy is converted, and capital is exchanged. Shouldn't it stand to reason that the same principles that affect animal ecosystems (like population density, habitation patterns, and energy return on investment) similarly apply to our –albeit more complex –human ecosystem, too? With an innovative and cross-disciplinary approach, Gronewold draws comparisons from both the animal kingdom and the atomic world. The rollercoaster-like rise and fall of the caribou population on a remote island can teach us about resource allocation. The behavior of squirrels gathering nuts is a lesson in energy return on investment. Could the high unemployment rates of anthill colonies shed light on problems with the human job market? And, will global warming change these patterns for humans and insects alike? Furthermore, if certain laws of physics can be used to explain the distribution of energy in a complex physical system, could these same laws also explain the distribution of money in a complex economic system as well? This clearly written book full of illuminating ecological analogies provides a more complete understanding of human commerce shaped by the rules of nature and laws of physics.

Human Ecology Economics

Author : Roy E. Allen
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135984913
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (359 download)

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Book Synopsis Human Ecology Economics by : Roy E. Allen

Download or read book Human Ecology Economics written by Roy E. Allen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-10-18 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents ‘human ecology economics’ as a new and more comprehensive interdisciplinary framework for understanding ‘world conditions and human systems’. This book helps economists rethink the boundaries and methods of their discipline - so that they can participate more fully in debates over humankind’s present problems and on the ways that they can be solved. Authors contributing to this book agree that human ecology economics is a superior framework for responding to global sustainability concerns because, unlike traditional economics and other social sciences, it allows a long time run perspective, encourages use of the humanities, and effectively juxtaposes ‘sustainability’ and other interdisciplinary issues alongside traditional economic issues. The contributors explore the following types of questions: What drives innovation and evolution in the world economy? What allows the U.S. one-third of the world’s wealth and a leadership role going into the twenty-first century? How can we better understand and address the causes of poverty, inequality, social conflict and inadequate food and energy supplies? Will responding to climate change and other concerns require changes in our ways of being? The book is written for the non-specialist as well as the professional economist in order to advance shared understanding of these ‘challenges to humankind’. This book is relevant to courses in Economics, International Relations, Environmental Science and Studies, Ecology and Political Economy among others, and will also benefit any professional audience interested in world conditions and global concerns, including business people, non-profit organisations and governments.

Wealth of Persons

Author : John McNerney
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781498229951
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis Wealth of Persons by : John McNerney

Download or read book Wealth of Persons written by John McNerney and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century initiated a great debate not just about inequality but also regarding the failures found in the economic models used by theoreticians and practitioners alike. Wealth of Persons offers a totally different perspective that challenges the very terms of the debate. The Great Recession reveals a great existential rift at the core of certain economic reflections, thereby showing the real crisis of the crisis of economics. In the human sciences we have created a kind of "Tower of Babel" where we cannot understand each other any longer. The "breakdowns" occur equally on the personal, social, political, and economic levels. There is a need for an "about-face" in method to restore harmony among dissociated disciplines. Wealth of Persons offers a key to such a restoration, applying insights and analysis taken from different economic scholars, schools of thought, philosophical traditions, various disciplines, and charismatic entrepreneurs. Wealth of Persons aims at recapturing an adequate understanding of the acting human person in the economic drama, one that measures up to the reality. The investigation is a passport allowing entry into the land of economic knowledge, properly unfolding the anthropological meaning of the free economy. "John McNerney's Wealth of Persons is an amazing tour de force--his focus on the human person in economics not only opens up economics for the nonprofessional economist, it's a bracing exposition of the philosophy of the human person, all the more impressive when seen immersed in economic action. By focusing on the Austrian and the later Bologna schools' insistence on the role of the entrepreneur he critiques, on the one hand, an economy overfocused on profit and, on the other, Marx's (and later Piketty's) misreading of economics as a struggle between capital and labor. It should be required reading for all students (and teachers) of economics as well as of applied philosophical anthropology." --Brendan Purcell, Adjunct Professor at the School of Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney "This book is a welcome addition to the field of Catholic social teachings and more generally to the debate over the use of economics and its limits . . . The author aims to explain the 'crisis' in economics and in the economy without blaming the usual suspects, especially human greed. This research program is sorely needed, especially coming from someone outside of the field of economics." --Frederic Sautet, Associate Professor of Economics at the Catholic University of America "McNerney . . . is not afraid to suggest that theological and metaphysical issues are needed to put the right limits on economics. And he shows how this might be done without undermining the integrity of the discipline itself--indeed, how such issues flow out of the discipline and its activities among real persons] acting together . . . What McNerney is really getting at is a placing of economics in its true place, with the realization that the acting person also has a transcendent destiny that is really why he is doing anything at all in the first place, as Augustine said." --Professor James V. Schall, Retired Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Government at Georgetown University John McNerney is head chaplain at University College Dublin. Author of John Paul II: Poet and Philosopher (2004), he is also an occasional lecturer to undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of business ethics and philosophy. He has given talks at various international conferences in North America, Europe, and Asia, and is a member of the national Economy of Communion commission in Ireland.

The Economics of Education

Author : Daniele Checchi
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139449370
Total Pages : 5 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis The Economics of Education by : Daniele Checchi

Download or read book The Economics of Education written by Daniele Checchi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-03-23 with total page 5 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an important contribution to educational policy, Daniele Checchi offers an economic perspective on the demand and supply of education. He explores the reasons why, beyond a certain point, investment in education has not resulted in reductions in social inequalities. Starting with the seminal work of Gary Becker, Checchi provides an extensive survey of the literature on human capital and social capital formation. He draws on individual data on intergenerational transmission of income and education for the USA, Germany and Italy, as well as aggregate data on income and educational inequality for a much wider range of countries. Checchi explores whether resources spent in education are effective in raising students' achievement, as well as analysing alternative ways of financing education. The Economics of Education thus provides the analytical tools necessary to understand the complex relationships between current income inequality, access to education and future inequality.

Economics As a Science of Human Behaviour

Author : Bruno S. Frey
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 940171374X
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Economics As a Science of Human Behaviour by : Bruno S. Frey

Download or read book Economics As a Science of Human Behaviour written by Bruno S. Frey and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book champions the view that economics is a social science, and that, moreover, it may serve as a new paradigm for the social sciences. Economics is taken to be part of those sciences which deal with actual problems of society by providing insights, improving our understanding and suggesting solutions. I am aware that the way problems are addressed here has little in common with economics as it is generally understood today; most economists make strong efforts to imitate the exact sciences. Economics tends to become a branch of applied mathematics; the majority of all publications in professional journals and books are full of axioms, lemmas and proofs, and they are much concerned with purely formal deductions. Often, when the results are translated into verbal language, or when they are applied empirically, disappointingly little of interest remains. The book wants to show that another type of economics exists which is surprisingly little known. This type of economics has its own particular point of view. It centres on a concept of man, or a model of human behaviour, which differs from those normally used in other social sciences such as sociology, political science, law, or psychology. I do not, how ever, claim that economics is the only legitimate social science. On the vii viii PREFACE contrary, economics can provide useful insights only in collaboration with the other social sciences-an aspect which has been disregarded by mathematically oriented economics.